Japanese, French firms to produce organic photovoltaics

Japanese Toyobo Co., Ltd. and the French government research institute CEA have succeeded in making trial organic photovoltaic (OPV) small cells on a glass substrate with the world’s top-level conversion efficiency, Toyobo announced in a statement on Monday.

According to the statement, the trial products use a power-generating material for OPV that Toyobo has been developing.

"OPV has attracted wide attention as a next-generation solar cell," the statement said and added the Japanese firm aims to put the material into early practical use, mainly as a wireless power source in such devices as temperature-humidity and motion sensors.

It is also stressed that the organic material will enable the world’s top-level conversion efficiency under room light to be reached.

"The trial product was confirmed to have attained a conversion efficiency of about 25%, or 60% higher than that of amorphous silicon solar cells commonly used for desktop calculators," the statement underlined.

The Japanese firm plans to propose the use of this material to solar cell markers, based on the know-how acquired through the joint research.

"Firstly, the company aims to have the material used by March 2023 mainly as a wireless power source for temperature-humidity and motion sensors," the company underlined.